Tag Archives: breathing exercises

Tips for staying present

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The following suggestions were adapted by my mindfulness tutor from the University of Bangor, Gwennie Fraser, from Saki Santorelli, ‘Mindfulness and Mastery in the Workplace: 21 Ways to Reduce Stress During the Workday’.

You don’t need to have studied mindfulness to usefully integrate them into your day, and it will make a difference to the way you feel. There’s something very calming about living your life as it is, not as you’d like it to be.

  • Bring awareness to your breath and body when you wake up in the morning, take a few conscious breaths and practice half-smiling before getting out of bed.
  • From time to time during the day, bring awareness to your body posture, what your body is doing and how you make transitions between body movements.
  • Bring awareness to your breathing at various times of the day.  Choose to take a few conscious breaths, following the breath all the way in and all the way out.
  • Use natural mindfulness triggers during the day to bring your attention back to the present moment: when the phone rings, when you pass through door ways, when you stop at traffic lights, when a sound comes into your awareness.  Use these moments, to take a breath and to come into body sensation, feeling your feet on the ground.
  • When you eat or drink, bring awareness to the process of stopping, tasting, sensing and nourishing yourself.
  • Bring awareness to body sensations as you go about your day, feeling the touch of air on your skin, the parts of the body in contact with the ground, the movement of your limbs as you walk.
  • Notice when you are rushing or hurrying.  Bring awareness to your state of mind, emotions and body sensations in these moments.  Notice if tension is arising.  See if there is a possibility of choosing a different stance.  Whenever possible, just do one thing at a time.  Enjoy the present moment!
  • When you find yourself waiting or queuing for something, use these moments as valuable opportunities to stop and tune into your experience.  If you are feeling impatient in these moments, bring awareness to that.
  • Bring awareness to the arising of tension in your body during the day, or check periodically for tension in your most vulnerable spots.  Use these as barometers as to your stress levels and if possible, breathe into these spots, and ease the tension by letting it go.
  • Continue to choose daily activities that you can conduct consciously with mindful attention: brushing your teeth, doing the washing up, getting dressed.  Pay full attention to what you are doing and when the mind wanders bring it back.
  • Bring awareness to patterns of communication: talking and listening as well as periods of silence and notice your states of mind during these activities.
  • Try to be more present during the moments of your life: feeling the breeze on your skin as your walk, noticing the small flower that is growing out of the crack in the wall, the call of the wild geese flying overhead as they start their long journey home.
  • Practice tuning your mind toward a more positive frame: reflect on everything you feel grateful for today; reflect upon the positive moments and what has gone well.
  • Before falling asleep at night, bring awareness to your breathing and your body sensations for at least five whole breaths, all the way in and all the way out.

three minute breathing space

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Sorry I’ve been somewhat lax in posting of late – I’ve had a flurry of job applications (and two interviews to prepare for) so my blog has had to take second place, temporarily of course!

I wanted to share a technique I have been practising in my mindfulness course that has really helped me during the job interviews. Although I can talk a good game on paper, in person I get very nervous when asked to speak in front of an official panel.

Although I don’t know if I’ll get any of the jobs I go for, I do at least feel I didn’t disgrace myself my nervously jabbering away at interview. The content of the answers sadly can’t be managed by breathing techniques :-) .

So, here it is, the three minute breathing space:

  • Stage 1: Concentrate on everything that is happening to you right now, however pleasant or unpleasant. Feel the contact of your feet with the ground, your bottom with the chair, the air on your skin, the thoughts going through your mind, the way you’re feeling. Be totally in whatever you are experiencing for one minute.
  • Stage 2: Focus only on the breath. Concentrate on wherever you feel it most, in the nostrils, chest or belly. Follow each inbreath and outbreath for a minute.
  • Stage 3: Expand your focus to be aware of your whole body. See if you can try and breath with your body, so each inbreath takes in the whole body, and each outbreath sweeps down it. Be aware of the space around your body.

And that’s it! It sounds very simple (and quick), but I have found it helps ground me in the moment and help break the cycle of repetitive thoughts.

Will be back to normal service again soon!

Pencil it in!

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Writing this from the staff room in the nursery where B is settling in. He seems to be doing well, despite a setback last week due to a virus, and I feel a wonderful sense of headspace. The ability to concentrate without frantically multitasking and attending to a million needs and wants expressed through shouts and cries is a blessed relief.

Anyway, I feel the need for an update on my post of the other day about making time. I’ve realised that:

1)    I need to decide at the beginning of the day what my 5/10/15 mins of me time will be used for, and, preferably write it down. This means I have the pleasure of anticipation, and the feeling that I’ve made an active choice to switch off. It’s just not the same “discovering” I’ve had a five minute tea break, and I don’t feel the same sense of achievement and reward.

2)    Not all five min activities are the same. The more I think about it, the more important I realise physically relaxing activities are. So much of the day is spent “outside” the self, responding to external stimuli and demands, and coming back to my own body is essential to preserve my health and sanity. Just now, I caught myself with my shoulders hunched, my breath held – in a state of tension for no reason. So, I think it should be possible to concentrate on two five min things – breathing/stretching, mindfulness. And something more externally focused and productive, like working on my project.

Also wondering if I should be drinking more water – I can’t find any authoritative source of information about it. All the research seems to point to any fluid (including tea) being enough to hydrate and energise the system, but I still hear the “drink at least five glasses of water a day” mantra being peddled about, with benefits including clearer skin, more energy, better digestion etc. Does anyone have any positive experience of increasing their water intake? Other than more frequent visits to the loo (which don’t count as “me time”!)